WABE: DeKalb’s Superintendent Search Key To Regaining Accreditation
By Martha Dalton
The DeKalb County School Board has fired PROACT, the firm that was leading its superintendent search. PROACT’s CEO was embroiled in a controversy over allegedly using racial slurs in emails while he was dean of a Chicago high school. The FBI is also investigating a PROACT subsidiary, also run by its CEO. Now DeKalb has about a month to whittle a field of eight candidates down to one.
The school board must find a strong superintendent in order for the district to fully regain accreditation. That’s a charge from the district’s accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or SACS.
SACS put the district on probation in 2012 because the board couldn’t govern. Mark Elgart, the president and CEO of SACS’ parent company, says DeKalb is behind in the search process.
“Our opinion is they started much too late,” Elgart says. “They were given plenty of notice by the current superintendent. Now, they’ve run into trouble with the search firm they selected – trouble they’ve known about for a while – and now they’re back to square one, and it’s May.”
The remainder of the article as well as an audio version can be found here: http://wabe.org/post/dekalbs-superintendent-search-key-regaining-accreditation
